Going To The Future
by Moosmoos
Summary: Trunks and I decided to use our time machine to travel 10 years ahead. But something doesn't seem right in this picture. Is it just me or are there extra memorials next to Gohann's grave? And why does the whole city look like its been hit by a wrecking ball?


I laid back tossing Eclipse's soul stone in the air. Things were pretty much under control these two years and Trunks was busy trying to find out where the screwdriver was. Turns out I was sitting on it.

"Mirao," I called, "What exactly are you making?"

"Building mother a present," he explained, "It's a secret so please, don't tell her." I walked up to the lab desk and observed curiously.

"You need two of the same thing?" I asked, "What is it anyway?" Trunks cleaned his hands with a towel and turned to me.

"This is a self generating forcefield," he explained, "I wanted to give one to my mom in the past also."

"Do you realize she can just take it apart and build a better version?" I asked, "She always likes to do that with Vegeta's clothes." He thought about it.

"I'm sure mother will like it," he nodded, "It's sort of like that stone you have in your hand." I glanced at it and nodded. Not very reliable in any case. I remember the last time, some weird evil alien blasted through the Capsule Corp. Good thing we managed to get Bulma out of the way or she'd be fried.

"Yup, my future soul stone," I murmured eyeing it carefully, "It's really pretty. Hey! Do you know what would be fun? We can go to the future and see how it is!" Trunks faltered his tinkering.

"What?"

"Wouldn't it be cool?" I asked, "If we see what's going on over there? You know. If there are any evil aliens coming to visit, we could prepare for it!"

"But the future you blew up a couple years ago," Trunks said, "I still remember that she looked like a vampire." I glared at him.

"Okay," he sighed, "Let me finish this first and then we can go." Bulma appeared at the doorway.

"Lunch is ready," she beamed, "Are you guys hungry?"

"You bet!" we both said at once.

...

I hopped in the fully charged time machine and Trunks dropped in next to me. Bulma insisted we bring some rice cakes with us.

"Please bring them," she said, "Just in case something happens." We nodded and then Trunks closed the cockpit. Off we go!

"So, we go forward another 20 years?" he asked me.

"Well, how about ten?" I suggested, "I mean, twenty it pretty far off." He punched in the coordinates and we were hurtled through time. As soon as Trunks announced that we were five years ahead, the soul stone in my hand started to glow and vibrate dangerously. Blue light erupted in the whole ship.

...

The hatch immediately cracked open. Trunks and I stumbled out still mostly confused and bewildered.

"Did your future stone just try to kill us?" Trunks inquired. I shook my head.

"I wouldn't do something THAT terrible."

We took a look around the city and realized the place was in pieces. Weird shadow like creatures hopped from one fallen building to another. Not a human soul was around. One creature instantly tried to attack us and Trunks jumped in front of me.

Pwew!

He shot an energy blast and incinerated the thing. He turned around as another one jumped on his back. I immediately slapped it off and it shrieked at me before scampering away.

"What happened?" I murmured, "This place looks terrible!"

"Esther, we're surrounded," Trunks said and quickly capsulized the time machine, "Where is our future selves anyway?"

"The saiyans returned!" one of them screeched, "Attack!" All the shadow creatures lunged at us. We drew out our weapons and defended ourselves from the onslaught.

"Wait," I murmured to myself as I sliced the shadow thing in half that was coming straight at me, "Where's Capsule Corp?" Trunks kicked a shadow away and grabbed my wrist, "We'll deal with them later." Eclipse's stone suddenly shined blinding light and monsters instantly disintegrated. One of them shrieked, "Vengeance!" before melting into a pool of muck.

"Wow," I murmured, "I didn't know she could do that!" Trunks brought me further off and we could see the old yellow building. It was the only one standing up in the whole city. A shadow creature lunged at Capsule Corp. only to get blasted away. The thing gurgled a curse before sinking back into the ground. I stared at the puddle of ink before making a face. "What exactly are these creatures?" I grimaced. We flinched as we felt this unusual power skyrocket through the roof! Then, it simply disappeared. Trunks immediately opened the door with the key and I slowly stepped inside. There was the dining room, and the kitchen. No one was there.

"Esther, let's check the basement," Trunks suggested, "There was a huge power level there just a second ago." I nodded, "This place is giving me the creeps." Once we turned the corner, Trunks and I saw the slightly older version of Bulma working on a robot. Just a crease on her forehead and a wrinkle near her mouth was the only difference. She turned around in surprise and then ran to us.

"Trunks! Esther! You're back!" she cried, "You two have grown! Where have you gone? Trunks! What did you do to your hair? Is this a wig?" Bulma sort of batted it with her hand, "No it's real!" We both sweatdropped.

"W-What do you mean?" Trunks asked just as confused as I was.

"You two disappeared 12 years ago!" she patted our backs, "You guys must be hungry. Let's go to the kitchen, I made sandwiches." I stared at her neck.

"That's a really pretty necklace," I pointed, "Where did you get that?"

"Don't you remember?" she beamed as she opened the fridge, "You gave me this as a gift. Found a small box in the front door."

"Esther," Trunks murmured, "Is that..."

Fwoom!

A sea of turkey sandwiches poured out of the refrigerator.

"How did you make so many of these?" I exclaimed.

"Oh," she laughed at herself, "Made sandwiches every day for 12 years." We looked at each other. "Well, she looked around playfully, "Where are the grandchildren?"

"What?"

"What?"

"Trunks," she frowned putting her hands on her hips, "You're almost 30 years old already. Don't tell me you've been fighting instead of finding a nice girl to marry! I knew I told Gohann not to help you." Trunks face turned red and his eye twitched. I cleared my throat as my face burned just the same.

"Bulma," I stepped up, "I'm pretty sure Mirao isn't that old." Trunks looked sort of mortified, "Mother, I'm seventeen."

"Ha!" she snorted as she picked up a sandwich from the floor, "Like I don't know my own son's age!"

"And..." I cut in, "Apparently you don't."

"Mother, we came ten years to the future," Trunks explained, "So basically you're seeing us from the past."

"And you two have grown!" Bulma interrupted. We looked at each other again. Suddenly, something crashed outside. A huge power level reappeared and to my surprise, it seemed like it was coming from Bulma herself. We both stared at her.

"Guys, what's going on?" she asked, "Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?"

"You know Mirao," I gulped, "I am positively freaked out right about now."

"Mother, did you have any accidents in the lab when we were gone?" Trunks asked. Bulma pondered for a moment.

"No," she said, "But I heard noises outside. I thought it was you two saving the world again." Something ran inside the open door. It was a shadow scampering straight at Bulma who had turned around to level the sandwiches back in the fridge.

Clang!

A forcefield appeared around her and both of us got flung away. Something on her neck was glowing brightly.

"That necklace," I realized, "Eclipse said she gave Bulma the necklace to protect her!" Trunk's mom turned around in astonishment to see Trunks and I slam into the wall.

"Did you guys have a fight again?" she asked wide eyed.

"Mirao-san..." I groaned, "This was a bad idea. Let's go back."

...

We sat on top of a ruined building outside. It was hard work destroying those shadow aliens or whatever they were and now Trunks and I decided to have a snack. Turkey sandwiches are nice.

"Mirao," I said, "Ever since we came, I haven't seen another soul besides Bulma. So where did everyone go?"

"That's exactly what I was wondering Esther," Trunks said.

"Maybe we'll find someone in the next city," I replied, "You know, if anything happened here, people will normally evacuate their homes."

"That could be true."

I drew out the stone in my pocket. It was glowing, this time red. I showed it to Trunks and he narrowed his eyes.

"Did it do that before?" he asked me. I shrugged, "I think either it wants to destroy us or it wants to show us something. I hope it's the second one." He shot up to the sky and I followed. After scanning the land and city Trunks shouted, "There!" and snatched my hand. I flew after him wondering what he was talking about.

"Mirao!" I exclaimed, "Where are we going?"

"To the hills," he said, "I saw a flash of red." He instantly powered up and shot off dragging me behind him.

"Slow down!"

After maybe a couple hundred miles, Trunks finally stopped and landed. I was staring at a grassy hill with junk sticking out of the ground.

Silence.

I looked closer and then glanced at Trunks who looked specifically horrified.

"Hey Mirao," I pointed, "Was that your sword? Someone hasn't taken care of it for a while..." My eyes scrolled over the one on the left, "...Gohann's grave?"

"E-Esther..." he choked out. Then he looked strangled.

"Hey! That's my necklace!" I exclaimed, "Did I lose it? Oh, I have mine around my neck. Somebody spilled red paint on it."

"T-That's blood..." Trunks stared speechless, "I-I don't understand..."

"This is a nice place for a picnic," I said, "Although eating next to Gohann's grave isn't going to be very comforting. Oh I know, I'll offer him a sandwich!"

"Esther," Trunks turned me around so I would look at his face,

"Esther. We're dead."

...

"No...way," I finished, "That stinks!" As I leaned over to read the date, Trunks pondered aloud, "Bulma didn't know this. She thought we were busy saving the universe. That explains why those shadow goons were terrified when they saw us and why I was considered all grown up."

"Hey," I shook his arm, "You died 2 years after today. Which means, today is your anniversary! Happy anniversary!" Trunks anime dropped. I then glanced at my grave. "Wow, I died three days after you. That's weird. I wonder who was so thoughtful to bury us." Trunks' face twisted with annoyance and he basically yelled at me, "Your future self made her own grave before she visited us!"

Silence.

"Okay..." I sweatdropped, "So you're telling me I'm easily suicidal? About your death? Now don't be kidding me, I would've turned super saiyan 2! Now that's awesome!" Trunks sighed, "I like the way you think. But our lives are at stake!" I mused silently for a moment.

"So who do you think did this?" I asked as we stared at the sword officially used as the marker of the grave.

"I...don't know," Trunks murmured, "Maybe we should go back 12 years and see what happens." The flower on Trunk's grave was started to glow.

"Whoa!" I breathed kneeling down, "what kind of flower is this? It's pretty!" Trunks stood there pondering silently.

"Is there any chance it could be Cell?" Trunks finally spoke up, "considering that the future you changed her name after three years which makes that two years from then."

"You're telling me I shouldn't change my name?" I inquired skeptically. Trunks sighed slapping his hand over his face.

"Esther, that wasn't the point."

"Didn't we blow up Cell?" I asked, "You know...twice?"

"Yes, I know," Trunks murmured, "We destroyed his larvae form already too. But on the other hand..."

"Saiyan!" someone shrieked and we whirled around. Another shadow glob was there spitting black stuff on the ground.

"Hello you again," I said with an annoyed look on my face.

"Saiyans dead!" it screamed at us, "Don't exist! Don't exist!" Before it could even lunge at us, Trunks rushed up and stuck his blade right through the creature. "Ooh," I cringed.

"R-Robot..." the monster choked out before melting into ink. After a couple of seconds, Trunks wrung out his sword clean looking slightly disgusted.

"Did it just say robot?" Trunks asked me. I shrugged.

"Maybe that thing meant robber. I was taking the necklace on your sword."

The soul stone in my hand started to rattle violently. "Hey," I murmured, "My stone's gone mad again."

"Esther, could it be a new android?" Trunks gasped.

"Is that possible..." I started but something flashed across my eyes. I stumbled forward losing my balance but Trunks caught me.

"Are you alright?" he exclaimed.

"Ya..." I stammered, "I saw...green." Trunks frowned at that notion.

"Esther," he narrowed his eyes, "We're going to the mountains.

...

"Didn't we blow this place up?" I asked as I followed him. He remained silent and I did as well.

"I know. It's odd, but if there's any chance a new android is on the loose," Trunks explained with a slight hue of anger in his voice, "Then we will find the clues in Doctor Gero's laboratory." We landed in the mouth of the cave and I peered inside.

"It looks wrecked," I noted quietly, "But better than after we demolished it." I followed Trunks cautiously inside the broken steel doors and I held an energy blast in my hand so we could see better.

"Take a look of this," Trunks leaned over a desk, "This was Cell's blueprints."

"What's it doing here?" I inquired dolefully, "You think another lizard is on the prowl?" Trunks rushed over immediately and stared at the broken cylinder. Crusted dried green stuff was all over the floor.

"This can't be possible," he murmured, "We destroyed him! He can't possibly hatch from this again!"

"Calm down," I clutched his arm, "We've got to think about this more carefully.

"There's nothing more to think about!" he shouted ripping himself right out of my grip, "That monster's just gonna keep absorbing innocent lives until we do something about it!" He zoomed off before I could respond.

"Wait!" I shouted and then sighed. Trunks was obviously mad but I decided not to chase after him yet. I turned around and looked at the desk. Cell's structure was made out of different DNA's fused together. It also had a zoom in of the molecules which make up the whole being itself. There was a date on the top of paper. "What the!" I couldn't help but exclaim, "This blueprint was made almost 20 years ago!" I decided to take a walk down the basement. Flicking on a switch that didn't work, I uncovered a giant computer. It wasn't on that's for sure. Gazing around, I found the containers marked 17, 18 and some others. They were already open, which was completely understandable. But then that sparked another possibility. "What if Dr. Gero made more than one Cell?" I pondered. Now the thought creeped me out quite a bit.

"Mirao!" I cried and bolted out of the lab, "Wait for me!"

...

"So isn't Trunks with you?" Bulma asked me as we sat around the table drinking hot chocolate.

"He had a temper tantrum and flew off," I shrugged, "I don't know where he is though."

"So this new android," Bulma murmured as she took a sip.

"Ya take a look at this," I pulled up the paper and rolled it flat onto the table. She gazed at it without a word and then nodded.

"I've never seen anything like it," she stood up, "The arrangement itself is amazing."

"The funny part is that," I spoke softly, "We already defeated this android some time ago. We also annihilated the laboratory too…like twice to be exact. But yet, its still there like if we've never existed." And on a random moment, I considered about our graves. Bulma suddenly cut into my thoughts.

"I did remember Trunks telling me to go inside that last time before you two disappeared," she spoke, "He sounded pretty serious." We both pondered the predicament for a while. The door suddenly creaked open and Trunks who was fuming, walked in.

"You're back dear!" Bulma ran to him and hugged him, "Here, we were just having hot cocoa. I made you a cup." As Trunks sat down I asked him where he went.

"To Master Roshi's," he answered calmly despite the serious look on his face.

"Wow, that guy?" I inquired, "He's still in a submarine?"

"No," Trunks sighed stirring his drink, "He's back to fixing his old house again."

"So? Does he have any idea what's going on?" Bulma asked leaning over the table with interest.

"After the welcoming committee?" Trunks murmured, "Master Roshi said that once the news that the Androids have been destroyed, he and Oolong and Puar and Korin have been around dozens of cities. But he's never seen or heard of us till now."

"So he knew that we killed the Androids but couldn't find us to celebrate our victory?" I asked.

"We vanished, like we didn't exist," Trunks sighed.

"This is too fishy to ignore," Bulma murmured quietly.

"So," Trunks started again in a much more relaxed tone, "Have you found anything yet?"

"Bulma said the last time she saw you before we disappeared...you told her to go inside," I spoke, "It was like someone was planning on fighting you." Trunk's eyes brightened unnaturally and in his excitement, the cup shattered in his grasp spilling cocoa all over the table. He was too hyped up to notice.

"Mother, can you check the wavelengths that the Earth vibrates in?" he asked.

"Sure?" Bulma raised an eyebrow. With the determined and confident look on his face, Bulma shrugged her confusion off and pointed to the sky in a heroic manner.

"Alright! To the secret lab!" she yelled. We both simply stared at her. "Ehehe..." she giggled, "I had some extra time for myself to watch kid shows." Then she shouted with more gusto, "Pull the lever Trunks!"

We anime dropped.

...

I sat in the corner, bored out of my wits. Trunks and Bulma were busy checking out a mosaic of numbers which I wasn't too interested in learning what they were for.

"Esther," Trunks said and I quickly jumped up at the sound of my name, "Why don't you explore a little bit while you wait for us? I'm sure Master Roshi would love to see you again."

"Love isn't the word for it..." I murmured to myself but then smiled, "Sure! Maybe I could beat up some more shadow goons!" So I found myself walking down the cracked sidewalk and glanced around at the buildings. The damage was so severe that the streets were almost unrecognizable. Not a single soul was around for miles. A shadow jumped out in front of me and I swatted it away, too preoccupied with my thoughts at the moment to fight. "What could've caused so much destruction?" I murmured to myself as I gazed at the shattered windows and missing rooftops, "Is Bulma, Master Roshi, and his pets really the ones left on this planet?" It sounded much more realistic once I visited city after city. Everything was simply gone. Then suddenly, I wondered how Bulma managed to get groceries. I'm almost positive there isn't anything left after a decade or so. I looked around again. Since fruit trees are littered all over the place without the constant chainsaws of humanity, I guess it was pretty easy to tell where she got food from. Eventually, I went back to Dr. Gero's secret lab to dig up more information. What I found was pretty cool.

"Say," I murmured as I scrolled down the beaten up laptop, "Cell was released just about 15 years ago. And only one had been made." That gave me some relief that we didn't have to fight another insanely strong robot all over again. I left the computers alone and walked back down the basement. Something in the way corner caught my eye. "Is that..." I stared, "Is that Android 16's compartment?" With closer inspection, the container was locked and sealed tight. Whatever's inside won't be able to come out unless aided by another being. "16 wasn't a bad artificial human," I noted, "But will he be the same in this future?" Doctor Gero did say that if they left him out too early, he'll be different. Something would go wrong. But what if you give that android 20 years to repair? He might just be as bad as the other two! I totally didn't like the idea and quickly scampered back up the stairs.

...

I walked down the streets again, observing the squirrels that ran past me. They probably were happy no more humans would be throwing rocks at them because of stealing from bird feeders. How did the little bushy tailed creatures know? It could have been squirrel feeders for all they care. With another sigh, I decided to drop the feeder argument entirely and think of something else.

"Hey!" Trunks called as he ran up to me, "I finally found you! I know what is going on now!"

"Like the reason why Android 16 is still inside Doctor Gero's laboratory?" I asked.

"Huh?" he frowned, "Come on, let's go back to the grassy hills. I'll tell you everything from there."

...

We sat next to our graves as we ate rice cakes. Trunks hadn't said anything yet, and I didn't really know when was a good time to ask.

"Remember that time when we found another time machine in the forests?" Trunks finally spoke up, "The one in the past where Bulma faxed us the pictures?"

"Yes, what about it?" I murmured while staring at the sky.

"Well, that is my time machine," Trunks said. I stared at him blankly. "Okay," he turned to me, "The fact is...that time machine came from a different...let's say universe."

"You're kidding," I gawked.

"No," he sighed, "We must have split the timelines when we used the time machine. There is another me...and you in a different time which explains the extra time machine."

"What?" I cocked my head with confusion.

"The main point is, this place you see here isn't our real future," Trunks gestured to the land, "It's the universe where your future self had. Basically, we busted through her timeline."

"Her future..." I murmured with growing realization.

"She must have wanted us to see something," Trunks murmured, "Her stone sent us here."

"So how did this all happen?" I asked anxiously.

"This is what I think," Trunks started, "Cell, had probably witnessed the defeat of both Androids on...let's call it Timeline 2. He wanted to absorb them to transform into his perfect form. But we already destroyed them right?"

"Right," I nodded.

"So he decided to steal the time machine," Trunks continued, "Which meant killing me."

"Terrible," I noted.

"When your future self probably noticed and came out to stop Cell," Trunks explained, "She was maimed to be slowed down. By then, Cell was already long gone. So she realizes that I was dead, she goes and buries me and prepares to make her own grave. The only thing that stumped me is how she managed to get to us, Timeline 3 without a time machine."

"I see," I murmured.

"But we're skipping that," Trunks said, "She warned us and then self destructed."

"She's not a robot," I pouted but let Trunks continue.

"We went to Timeline 1, where Goku and everyone else are still alive and we saw the time machine that Cell used," Trunks said.

"And the hunger for world obliteration starts there," I finished. We didn't say another word for a while. The roar of Bulma's jet caught our attention and she landed it a couple hundred yards in front of us. Bulma, Master Roshi, Oolong, the turtle, Korin, and Puar streamed out.

"Ah hello!" Master Roshi called as he ambled up to us and then leaned to Trunks, "Who is this lady here?"

"This is Esther," Trunks introduced and then glanced at my surprised face. "The Master Roshi in this time doesn't know you yet," he explained in a hushed whisper. So I greeted everyone with hugs, and faltered at the moment when I remember what Master Roshi does to girls. I shrugged, hugged him, and hid behind Trunks as fast as possible. Everyone laughed besides the pussycat, Korin.

"I'm sorry that you guys had to find out about this, 12 years later," Trunks sighed. Bulma gazed at the graves with a momentary silence before speaking up.

"I'm glad you used the time machine Trunks," she said, "At least you guys won't have the same fate." She looked like she was about to cry.

"We would have never known," Master Roshi murmured sadly, "Well, that does it. I'm off to train martial arts again!" Eclipse's soul stone which rattled and glowed violently in my hands made a singular crack sound before dimming out.

"Uh oh," I mouthed. Everywhere around us started to shimmer.

"Mother," Trunks quickly grabbed her hands, "I want you to have this." It was the little forcefield thingie that he built this morning but it looked slightly different. It was a hunk of copper with two balls sticking out of this stem. The base had a small jewel in it, probably a shard of my stone that chipped off when Bulma was attacked. The two balls I mentioned earlier could rotate around on the stem which was attached to the base. Trunks twirled a ball around like how a helicopter's blades would work and the thing made a twinkling sound. It gave out an unusual glimmer of blue light before dimming out when he stopped. Bulma managed to throw one last hug at us.

"I'll miss you," she cried. Everyone waved us a goodbye as they faded completely.

...

We stood at the same hill in silence, until I heard children's laughter. We were next to Gohann's grave and the weird part was that our memorials were gone. That probably was a good thing though.

"Esther look," Trunks pointed over the hill. As I gazed over where he was gesturing me to see, my heart skipped a beat. There was an older version of us standing there outside a cottage and seven adorable little children were running around the two. The future future me had hair tied up in a bun and cradled a baby. The other Trunks wore a regular t-shirt with black pants and had his hair tied up in a ponytail. Further away, we could spot Bulma beating up Master Roshi with a shovel. She spotted us and waved before continuing to whack the turtle hermit for stealing her underwear. When the future us shared a kiss in which all the children stopped to stick their tongues out in disgust, it was then that we realized that we were married. I glanced at my Trunks who stared with disbelief.

"So...when are you going to admit it," I poked him playfully and giggled at the blushing terror on his face. I could stay here all day watching super saiyan boys chase after their tails and the older Trunks tickle a daughter. One of the kids hugged Puar like a stuffed animal! Finally, Trunks put a hand on my shoulder.

"Let's go home," he smiled. He popped the time machine out and we squeezed inside.

"Ahh," I sighed as I leaned back, "I like this future."

...

"You guys are back!" Bulma cried as she ran to us, "How did it go?" I thought about the whole adventure.

"Great," Trunks answered before I could reply.

"I'm glad you had fun," she beamed, "Come on, dinner is on the table."

"But we just..." I started but Trunks nudged me. We sat down without a word until Bulma asked to hear all about the future.

"We saw our graves," I said without much thought. Bulma spewed her tea.

"How far have you gone!?" she screamed as Trunks covered his face with his hands.

"Esther..."


End file.
